McDonald agreed to repeat the eighth grade, because his father felt the extra time would give him a chance to grow.

He also set the city scoring record in basketball, and won five gold medals in the state track meet (100, 220, low hurdles and 2 relays).

Based on Drake's recommendation, Wilkinson invited McDonald to visit the school's campus and offered him a football scholarship soon thereafter.

At the end of the season he received the Maxwell Award as the nation's most outstanding college football player and finished third in the 1956 Heisman voting.

He excelled as a running back, never played in a losing game and was one of the key players during the school's 47-game winning streak.

On March 20, 1964, he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for Sam Baker, John Meyers, and Lynn Hoyem.

Looking to improve the receiving corps to help the young quarterback Don Meredith, they also traded with the Pittsburgh Steelers to get Buddy Dial.

In 1965, with the emergence of rookie Bob Hayes he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for placekicker Danny Villanueva on May 14.

With the retirement of Raymond Berry the previous year, McDonald was technically the league's active leader in career receiving yards during the off-season but was surpassed in Game 1 by Don Maynard.

Following the Eagles NFL Championship victory, McDonald wrote an autobiography: They Pay Me to Catch Footballs, published by Chilton in 1962.

[8] He became great friends with Pro Football Hall of Fame writer, Ray Didinger, who was a huge fan of Tommy's during his time with the Eagles.

[10][11] He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head.